Beneath the Cold Layer
by ora-shini-gi
Summary: During the dark depths of the night, vampires arise.... and Syaoran is one of them. Not an AU...I think.. SXS
1. Prologue

Title: Beneath the Cold Layer

Disclaimer: Haha... not mine. Never was.

A/N: This is my second CCS story. Hope someone likes it! There is some cuss words. If it offends anybody, my apologies!

"..." – Talking

'...'- Thoughts

* * *

**Prologue**

Feeling the cold air against her skin as she was running through the forest, her eyes quickly glanced towards the sky above her. She sighed a relief.

"I still have time. I still have time."

Jumping over a broken tree limb, she slowly came to a halt when she finally arrived at the doorstep of the old Sakamori church. Resting her hands on her knees, she took huge gulps or air to relieve her tightened chest. When she felt her lungs relax, she lowered herself onto the ground, and leaned back until she touched the musty, wooden door of the abandoned church.

She carefully wrapped her arms around her knees and waited for him to come.

"I must be strong. I must not let him get to me." No matter where she was, she knew he would always find her. Looking up at the sky again, she waited for him to come.

"Do you honestly think you can outrun me?" A deep voice rang from behind her.

By the sound of his voice, she hastily stood up, and raised her hands into a fighting position towards the intruder.

She smirked, "No, but I can try."

He sluggishly took three steps and stopped when he was right in front of her. Glancing at her present state, he could see that she was immensely tired from the lack of sleep. Leaves stuck to her disheveled hair, dirt smudged on her perfect face; this was the girl that had been contaminating his mind from day one.

Bringing his face near her ear, he whispered huskily, "And why would you want to?" Gently touching her hair with his sturdy fingers, and sinuously stroking the auburn strands, "Never once in my life did I see you stand up against me."

She shuddered from the close contact. Shaking her head feebly, she placed her right hand on his chest and tried to push him away.

"I did. Once."

He chuckled softly by the short comment and with his other hand, he clasped her warm hands from his chest.

"I know."

She raised her head up in surprise. With wide eyes, she said, "You remember?" She stared into his eyes. There was gentleness there. _'Does he know? Is he getting his memories back?_'

She repeated again, "You remember? You remember the time when we were at school? During -"

"Sakura! Where are you?!"

Hearing her name, the boy immediately grew cold again and tightened his hold on Sakura.

Out from the trees, Kero and Yue came into clear view.

"Sakura! Get away from him!" Kero tried to change into his other form, but he knew it was useless. _'Damn! If it wasn't for the stupid bottle, I could help Sakura out by now!'  
_  
About to create vast crystals from his hands, Yue calmly stated, "Sakura, get out of the way."

Realizing what he was about to do, Sakura stood right in front of the guy next to her.

"No! Wait! He remembers!" She held up her left hand to signal to not attack.

"What?" Kero stared at Sakura unbelievably. "How is that possible?"

"Kero is right. There is no way that he can regain the memories for his past." Yue called out quietly. However, he slightly lowered his hands nonetheless.

"No, it's true. He agreed with me when I talked about an incident in the past." Sakura walked towards them, but was held back by the grip from her right hand.

"Syaoran, is this true?" Yue asked with a tinge of hope.

Forming a cruel grin, Syaoran started to chuckle. He pulled Sakura's hand and twisted it behind her back. When he applied pressure, he felt delighted when her heard her scream.

"You know what I like about her? She believes anything that I say." He confirmed with a small grin. "And I wouldn't do that if I were you." Syaoran reverted his cold gaze back to the angelic being. "If you miss, then it wouldn't be only me that you would hit." Syaoran circled his arms around Sakura's thin waist and brought her closer to his cold body.

Still keeping his stance, Yue replied coolly but a little hesitantly, "I haven't for nearly a century. I don't think I'll miss now, and looking at the time, I don't think I have to." He glanced up at the sky.

Syaoran stepped backwards, bringing Sakura with him. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. And if any of you come close to us, then I'll kill her on the spot."

"You wouldn't dare. Even though you lost your memories, you at least still have feelings for this girl." Yue questioned him.

Syaoran ignored the question and let out a brash laugh. "No matter what I am, Sakura can't kill me."

Frustrated, Kero shouted, "Shut up! Don't presume anything that you don't know shit about! Sakura doesn't feel overpowered by you! Right? Sakura?"

Sakura looked away from her two friends, she couldn't bear to see the sight of them. She couldn't bear to see them at this state and because of that, she felt her chest tighten with remorse. "He's right. I can't." She knew he was right. There was no way that she can kill him from her own free will.

Syaoran sneered at that comment.

Kero stared at her in disbelief and shouted helplessly to her. "You can't! You'll die! You have to fight back!"

"I can't." Drops of tears strolled down her delicate face. She choked on her words. "He might remember." _'He might remember the times when we spent together... Together.'_

"Please. I don't want to lose you." Kero's voice slightly quivered.

"I can't. I can't kill him." She pathetically lowered her watery gaze to the ground. "I still love him."

With that, Syaoran made up his mind and brought his lips to Sakura's bare, flesh neck. Feeling the lithe pulse beating near his lips, he gradually opened his mouth.

To the Far East, as the peak of the sun's rays started to come forth to the dim-lit sky, a lone figure stood impassively on the desolate hill.

As he slowly turned away from the atrocious scene, he whispered softly, "I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan. Forgive me."

"SAKURA!!"

* * *

Ahhahhha I know this sounds really confusing... or.. so I think. But don't worry. It'll all be explained later on in the chapters. The next chapter will go into the past and eventually, I hope, crosses fingers it'll lead into this scene later on. ; Sorry if there is any grammar mistakes, didn't really check over it. Please review! and if there is any wrong information on any of the characters, then I'm really sorry Please tell me if there is. Review!

Toodles!!


	2. chapter 1

Title: Beneath the Cold Layer

Disclaimer: Not mine boohoo TT.TT

A/N: Yes! I'm back from the dead! Haha... anyhoo I just like to thank the people that reviewed my story!!! I just hope that they'll review again for the second chapter ; This is from the past, so that no one will get confused on how the characters were lead to the particular scene I made in the beginning. So, enjoy!

"....." – talking

'.....' thoughts

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_::Past::_

"Hey Tomoyo-chan!" Riding on her roller skates, Sakura waved enthusiastically to her best friend.

Standing near the school gate, Tomoyo Daidouji switched off her video camera, and waved back with the same amount of joy, maybe more. "Hi Sakura- chan! Did you have fun on your trip to China?"

Stopping next to her, she nodded feverishly, "Syaoran and I went to a lot of places. Ate a lot of good food too. Too bad you couldn't come though," Sakura pouted, "it would've been more fun if you did."

Tomoyo giggled, "But you're kind of glad I didn't, huh Sakura-chan." Switching to a mischievous smile, she said, "More time alone with Syaoran- kun is always an extra plus."

Sakura's cheek immediately turned a tiny shade of pink. Ever since Syaoran Li had returned back from China, Sakura and he became closer than before, and started to spend more time with each other. She started to stutter something incoherently.

"Just teasing Sakura-chan. Just teasing." Tomoyo giggled once more.

"Teasing about what?"

Both the girls turned, and saw the man of the hour walking towards them with an odd expression on his face.

"Nothing Syaoran-kun, just talking about how Sakura-" Sakura cut Tomoyo off by hastily covering her mouth with her hand.

Sakura laughed hastily and tried to finish off her friends' sentence, "how I taught myself how..to...juggle. Yes! Juggle!"

Syaoran raised his eyebrow, and Tomoyo did too.

"Juggle?"

Shifting her eyes to Tomoyo's amused face, Sakura turned her gaze back to Syaoran again, "Yes. I...learned how to juggle when we got home from our trip to China."

Tomoyo brought her fingers to her mouth to remove Sakura's hand away.

"Do you think you can show us a little show on juggling?" Syaoran asked calmly, but if one can see close enough, his eyes held a bit of amusement.

"Uhh... Now?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Now's good" Tomoyo piped in with a smile on her face. Sakura glared at her with an expression of 'you're-not-helping' look.

Looking around feebly, Sakura tried to think about how she's going to get out of this one. Finally, she exclaimed with a triumphant grin, "But there's nothing that I can juggle with!"

Both of the Sakura's friends turned their heads to see if there was anything. Spotting something, Syaoran pointed at the tree behind Sakura, "You can juggle with apples."

Sakura's grin faded away. Slowly turning around, Sakura had faced her new biggest fear: the apples.

When she started to reply back with a hasty remark, the bell rang to signal kids that it was time for school.

"School! School!! We have to go to school!!" Almost jumping for joy, Sakura ran away from her two friends.

Tomoyo shook her head bemusedly and pulled on Syaoran's arm gently to the school. She advised happily, "We'll ask her again after school."

* * *

"Hey, did you hear? Dead bodies were found in dark alleys near Kyoto..."

This was the talk throughout the whole school. Multiples of pale bodies were discovered in old dark parts of Kyoto and no one knew the cause of these sudden deaths. An old man, a little girl and her mom, none of them were related whatsoever, so detectives were stumped on who the killer was. All of the victims were in perfect health, so the doctors and scientists had nothing to blame for its deaths.

"It's pretty sad that they have to lose their life like that." Tomoyo said with a shudder. Sakura, Syaoran and she were sitting near the window in their small classroom. It was lunchtime, so students started to talk rapidly about the fresh news that was going around in their town.

"It's like a winner from a lottery ticket. No one knows who's going to be next." Sakura said with a worried frown.

"It is to be said that vampires are the cause for these incidents." Takashi and Chiharu walked up to them. Chiharu then smacked him in the arm. "Enough with your nonsense. We all know vampires does not exists, just like ghosts and hideous beasts."

"No, its very true. I got this from a very reliable source."

Rolling her eyes, Chiharu said, "And where did you get this 'very reliable source'?"

Takashi stared at her for a couple of seconds with his very small eyes and said quickly, "From my grandpa. Anyways," he turned to his other friends, and continued, "The way to kill vampires," he heard a sigh from Chiharu, "is to run something, preferably a stake, into their heart. Or you can see them burn in the sun. Or-"

"Okay, that's enough," Chiharu grabbed his arm, and started to pull him away from the group.

Sakura and the rest could hear Takashi trying to reason with Chiharu, "I'm telling you it's true, if..."

"Well, that was interesting." Syaoran commented quietly. Shaking his head, "I'm not surprised – Sakura? Are you ok?" He saw that Sakura had her eyebrows scrunched up together, as if she was thinking heavily on something.

With a small touch of her shoulder from Tomoyo, Sakura met the gaze of two pairs of worried eyes. "Hmm? Yeah. I'm ok. But...what if Takashi said was actually real?" She asked hesitantly.

"It would be the first time he did." Syaoran inaudibly mumbled to himself.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan. Vampires aren't real. Just like ghosts." Tomoyo said with an encouraged smile, hoping to help relieve her friend from worry. "And if they are real, you have Syaoran to protect you."

From that statement, Sakura and Syaoran both blushed red.

* * *

"Tadaima! I'm home!" Sakura shouted when she stepped into her house. It was around 8:00 when Tomoyo's mother had dropped her off at her home. Sakura and Tomoyo had hanged out at Tomoyo's house to try on the new outfits that Tomoyo made for her. "Anyone home?"

"They're all out." Kero came into view, and flew to Sakura in a rush. He grabbed her hand and hurriedly led her upstairs to her room.

"Wait, where are they?" Sakura regained her balance after she almost tripped from the stairs. "Hold on Kero, don't go so fast! I'm only human!"

Slowing down his speed, he finally opened her door. After then got in, he said, "Touya's out with Yukito and your dad went on a business meeting he had to attend to this evening." He shut the door, and immediately turned on the television that was set up on the cabinet next to her bed.

"It has come to me that vampires might be residing here near our city." Kero said, staring at the T.V. screen that had just came into view. It was stationed at a news channel.

Sakura widened her eyes. "Vampires?"

"Yeah," still staring at the screen, Kero stated, "I've been hearing news from Yue that a nest of vampires had settled near a town called Okashida, but I haven't paid enough attention on this particular issue."

"B-but, vampires aren't real though, right?" Sakura stuttered. "I mean, they're just myths, aren't they?"

Shaking his head, "They're very much real as you and me, but you haven't heard much from them because they live in another realm." Frowning with incredulity, he tapped his chin carefully, "but I haven't figured out how they broke from the barrier and came here on earth."

Sakura stared at Kero with disbelief. She was about to say something, but Kero interrupted, "Wait, here it is." He turned up the volume television, and Sakura had nothing to do but watch.

"A body was discovered dead near a dumpster that was located behind an old restaurant. The unusual sightings, however, was that no harm was found on the body, but rather an extreme lack of amount of blood was to be a questionable symptom. The doctors also had discovered that two little holes were seen on the side of the neck, near the shoulder blade..."

"Well, there you go." Kero turned off the television. He heard Sakura whisper to herself, "So he was telling the truth."

Looking at her quizzically, he asked, "Who was telling the truth?"

"Huh?" Sakura snapped out of her gaze. "Oh, it's nothing."

Shrugging it off, Kero sat next to her on the bed and patted her knee gently, "Even though vampires are not common in this realm, there is a fair amount of percentage that do live in a different world beside here. Most of them are scattered around all over the realm, but there are some that travel in groups."

Sakura looked at the ground, and stared at a little lint she found sticking out of her rug. Quietly, she said, "And what do you want me to do?"

Kero turned his head upward to gaze at her face. "I know this is not your usual thing, but if no one is doing anything about it, then more people will die."

Sakura finally turned to Kero, her eyes were filled with worry and a tint of fear. "But you're asking me to kill them, aren't you?" Sakura saw him shift uncomfortably on her bed.

"Well.."

Sakura cut him off, "Kero! You know I can't kill anyone! No, I won't kill anyone, even if they are called monsters!" She now stood up and looked down on him. "Everyone deserves a chance to live!"

"Look," he flew up to her, so that he can directly see her eye to eye, "they already had a chance to live, and as vampires, they're having a second chance that are not meant for them to have. Most of them were good before, but after they lost their life, their heart went away with it." Not wanting to hear anymore, Sakura moved away from him.

Flying to Sakura so that he can see her face once again, he spoke, "Vampires are evil, and none of them has a soul to care about anything. And- "

Feeling helpless, Sakura retorted back, "But what if some of them are not evil as you say they are. If some of them has a soul, and I kill them, I'm going to kill an innocent being?"

Restraining from rolling his eyes, exasperation started to build up in his tiny body. "Sakura, you can't wait around and try to see if they have a soul or not. If your calculations were incorrect, and they don't have a heart, they'll kill you in an instant. You can't spare their life just by your hopes."

Sakura felt discouraged. Trying to think of anything to help her situation, she started to walk around the room with quick, rapid steps. Suddenly, an idea popped in her head, "What if-"

"You can't use your clow cards to fight them." Kero glowered at her. Folding his arms against his chest, he announced, "Those powers are useless. There are certain ways to destroy them, but I'll tell you all about that tomorrow."

Shoulders slumped and defeated, Sakura plopped down on her bed, and laid her head down on her comfy pillow. Bringing her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them; just like a fetal position. "Just give me time to think about it." She softly stated to Kero.

Resting his feet near her head on the pillow, he patted her head gently with his yellow paw. "I know this is sudden news to you, but try to think about." Sakura slipped her eyes shut and stayed quiet.

Glancing out of the window, Kero thought, _'If you don't help Sakura, who knows what would happen to this town.'_

Kero flew up to the light switch, and turned it off.

Click.

* * *

yay!! Finally finished with this chapter!! hope that someone reviews my story! Even one would be fine!! And sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, Just hope that you won't cringe too badly when you read the story Okay then..

Toodles!!


	3. Chapter 2

Title: Beneath the Cold Layer

A/N: Didn't realize I haven't updated… well… in a while. Hope someone enjoys the story!

Disclaimer: Not mine.

_Italicized_ - thoughts/Flashbacks

* * *

**Chapter 3**

It was 3 in the afternoon when the consort of students rushed out of the building. It seemed like the perfect day; the sun was brightly shining, flowers were lightly blooming, and even the birds seem to sing a soft tune expressing their joy of living. However, as Sakura stepped languidly over the concrete stairs to retrieve her bicycle from the rack, her body screamed from exhaustion and frustration.

_'What should I do? Should I do what Kero wants?'_ Laying her hand delicately on top of the handle, Sakura bit her lip softly.

_'Should I kill?'_

She spent all night thinking about what Kero had told her, and just realizing that another being was settled on earth, she felt her mind jammed with numerous of unanswered questions. By the time she felt as if she could finally get a moment of rest, her brother was already pounding forcefully on her bedroom door, signaling for her to brush up and go to school.

Focusing on her thoughts heavily, she mindlessly passed Syaoran, who was waiting for her patiently near the gates.

"Sakura-chan?"

Turning her head, her eyes focused into Syaoran's deep pool of brown eyes staring back at her.

"Are you all right?" With his arms folded in front of his chest, Syaoran was casually leaning against one of the metal gates surrounding the bicycle area.

Shaking her thoughts away, she smiled forcefully. "Yeah. I just have a lot of things happening in my life right now."

Raising his eyebrow, he replied, "Like what?"

Studying his facial features, she debated whether or not she should tell him the truth. _'I can ask Syaoran, but,'_ Sakura remembered what Kero had warned her about this morning.

* * *

_::Flashback::_

_"Why can't I tell him? If we have more fighters on our team, then wouldn't the job be easier?"_

_Kero shook his head. "We can't."_

_"Why not?"_

_"Like I said, I don't know how they ruptured the balance of the universe and settled here, but just You, Yue, and I are the only ones that know about this situation. The less people involved on this, than the higher chance for us to discover what's happening right now." Kero flew to Sakura's desk and carefully picked up an old, worn-out book._

_"If we tell the brat then there is the slight, possible chance for us to be tracked down by one of the vampires, and I just can't risk that right now."_

_Gliding back to his master, "Yue came in yesterday night and found this in one of Yukito's room. Just study the materials inside and then we'll go from there. If we receive more information on their whereabouts and what they want from us, then maybe later on, you can tell him."

* * *

_

Sakura sighed. _'No, if I tell Syaoran, then I would be the one getting a stake stabbed into my chest.'_

Staring back, she gave him a placid smile. "Nothing, just worried about school." Dragging her bicycle pass him, she mounted, pushing her left feet off the ground.

He questioned, eying her back carefully, "Like the test we have this upcoming Friday?"

Almost missing her step, she regained her balance and whipped her bicycle sharply towards him.

"What?" All she received was a small smirk.

After the words dawned into her mind, she let out a devastated groan.

"Syaoran-kun, why did you have to remind me?"

* * *

"Do you have everything?" 

"I think so. Just let me check once more."

Forming a sigh, Kero commented, "You know, by the time we get there, the vampires probably have woken up already."

"Well, good for them. Then maybe I wouldn't have the opportunity to kill one of them today." Sakura replied sarcastically.

"Sakura."

Expressing her own sigh, she gave in. "Fine, just let's get this over with." Heaving the bag, full of weapons, wooden sticks, and holy water, over her shoulders and grabbing the flashlight from her desk, she and Kero left the house.

Kero wanted to practice her combats with just a few vampires that were 'reviving back from the dead'. Even though Sakura protested, saying that she wasn't ready to fight yet, Kero reassured that the vampires around here are weak and basically uneducated. He believed that this was the perfect opportunity for her familiarize herself with the foreign creatures.

Finally arriving at their designated spot, Sakura placed the bag gently onto the ground. Flicking the light over the trees, Sakura felt somewhat terrified. The sky was pitch black, and the only source of heat and light came from her little, flower colored flashlight she had bought when she was 8 years old.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

As Kero was about to answer her with the same statement, Sakura cut him off.

"I know that this is just practice, and there won't be a whole lot of them coming here, but what if I can't fight them?" Sakura twisted her fingers hesitantly around the flashlight. "I mean, what if it turns out that I don't have the capability to fight? All I have been doing for the past years is fighting demons and creatures with my clow cards. I'm not even sure if I can throw a outward punch."

Detecting some fear and uncertainty in Sakura's voice, Kero flew over to her shoulder.

Reassuring her, Kero calmly said, "Don't worry. You'll do fine. You have Yue and me to help you out. We both have experiences with vampires from the past, so just try your best today. Yue confirmed that there would be only two vampires coming here, so it'll be fine."

However, their calculations were extremely off.

* * *

"Sakura! Watch out!" 

"Kero! Get the weapons!" Sakura yelled back, blocking one of the fists with her forearm.

Kero hastily grabbed the wooden bark. When the angel came close to him, Kero tossed it sharply to Yue, who caught it swiftly with his left hand.

"Get Sakura out of here! There are too many!" With a curt nod, Yue went back to Sakura.

_'What the hell?! How did the vampires know we were coming here today? There's got to be at least 6 of them here!'_ Kero returned his attention to the bag, and started to furiously dig through it once again with his nose until he finally found what he was looking for. Wrapping his teeth carefully around the translucent liquid, he pushed himself up and quickly maneuvered his wings towards the vampires.

However, by concentrating his sight only on Sakura, he didn't seem to notice the stranded vampire lurking behind one of the trees. As Kero came closer and closer, the vampire jumped out and pinned Kero on top of his broad back. From the unexpected impact, with a loud grunt, the bottled liquid flew out of his mouth and shattered immediately onto the ground.

"What the-" Kero was about to turn his head towards the intruder when he heard Sakura scream. Looking off to the distance, he could barely make out one of the vampires wrapping their cold hands around her neck.

Kero started to shout her name but when a strong metal compellingly collided with his head, darkness instantly engulfed him.

As the stiff fingers started to slowly close tightly around her neck, Sakura could feel the sharp nails digging deeper, gradually cutting off her air supply. Reaching out feasibly, as if to grasp some unknown object floating in thin air, Sakura tried to scream, but no sound came out.

_'Help.'

* * *

_

A/N: Still confused? Yeah… me too. ha hA oh, and for the person that was a bit confused about the prologue and chapter 1, the prologue is from the present, and starting from chapter 1 and on, the plot is occurring from the past. Yeah, sorry if I haven't made that clear. Also, I would just like to thank everyone who reviewed, and hope that someone would continue reading this story at least. I hope the chapter kind of flowed too, I noticed there were a lot of change scenes, hehe and sorry if there are any grammar mistakes. Yeah I know, I should proofread my work, ahh but too lazy

Argh and I'm writing a chapter during my finals week…. Shame on me…. Need to StUdy! Stupid biology, English, history, math, and Spanish!!

Toodles?


	4. Chapter 3

**Title**: Beneath the Cold Layer

**A/N:** ummm… yeah… I realized this is a bit confusing… so I just hope it actually flows.

**Disclaimer**: Not mine.

_Italicized_ – Thoughts/flashbacks

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_My head_. Sakura felt as if a jackhammer had rammed into her skull, splitting her cranium into two. She tried to lift her eyelids upward, but it wouldn't budge open. Around her, she could hear bits and pieces of voices gently comforting her ears.

"Maybe we were too hard-core on her. If he didn't came there in time, then we would've had lost her." _Yue?_

"But the thing that troubles me is that how did they know that we were there?" _And what's Kero doing here? Where am I?_ "I mean, they shouldn't have already rounded up teams and groups so soon. How did they spread the word so quickly? And who the hell was that guy?"

Heaving a sigh, "I don't know. All I found out was that a group of kids just-" But Yue was cut off when he heard a soft groan coming from beside him. Yue and Kero immediately knelt down next to their master.

Prodding gently, Yue asked, "Sakura? Are you okay?" Receiving another small groan, he repeated his question again.

"Not so loud." Her voice was hoarse and rough. _My head. It hurts._ Licking her lips, Sakura brought her wrists to her temple and laid them there for a moment. Still not opening her eyes, she asked, "Where am I?"

"We're at Yukito's house. Since Yue couldn't technically bring you to a hospital, he thought this was the next best thing."

"Kero?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened?" The last thing Sakura had a memory of was a foreign vampire smirking right in front of her face right before a blast of sheer white lightning brought her to unconsciousness. She remembered a sense of helplessness surging throughout her body when she couldn't grasp anything in front of her even though it seemed as if it was an arms reach away. Sakura sighed. And the _power_. The power radiating from him was so strong. So strong it terrified her.

"You were being choked to death." That one statement brought chills down her spine. _I was about to die?_

Yue continued, "Kero was knocked out," Sakura could hear a scoff from the little beast beside her, "and one of the vampires got a hold of you. I tried to get closer, but I was caught up in some sort of spell." _Magic?_ "I didn't realize what it was at first, but then I later discovered that it was a small dose of black magic."

"Black magic?" _I'm so confused. Now there's another source we have to deal with?_

"I'm guessing it is black magic. I'm not really certain, however. Kero and I were looking it up while you were sleeping. I wouldn't worry about it though. Your main priorityare the vampires." _Vampires. How I loathe that word._ Sakura realized she had made a face when Kero asked oddly off to the side, "Got an itch?"

"So then happened?"

"The spell they had used made me lose the feeling of my legs. I couldn't reach you in time, but then someone else came into view."

"Someone else? I thought no one knew about the vampires except us."

"That's what I would like to know." Sakura could hear the suspicious tone in Kero's voice.

Hearing a sigh, Yue continued, "I'm not sure as well, but we can't think too dark of him. He did save Sakura in time."

"But that's suspicious enough!" Kero retaliated. "Who knows what he would ask for in return!"

_Too loud! _Quelling down her annoyance, Sakura questioned, "Do you know who he was? If he saved me, then we should at least thank him."

"There's no need for gratitude. This is not a place for acknowledgment and gifts." Sakura heard Kero mutter hastily next to her.

"Kero-"

"He's right though." Yue softly interrupted her. "We have to take extreme precaution. We don't know who that person was, but if we find him again, then we'll ask him questions." With that said, no one said a word afterwards.

Sakura tried to calm her breathing. Her chest felt tight from remorse and pain, and her body ached everywhere. She could hear the soft humming of the air conditioner running in the background and feel the warmth from the sunlight lightly caressing her cheek, and somehow, this relaxed her.

"Do I still have to do this?" came her weak response, disrupting the silence. Not receiving an answer, Sakura held back the burning desire to complain. Even though it would make her seem like a child, she wanted to express the deep anguish that was lodged tightly in her throat. _But I am a child! I'm not ready for this!_

After a few minutes passed, Kero asked carefully, "You okay?"

"Just sore." Drawing a deep amount of air into her lungs, Sakura breathed out slowly. "How do I look?"

"Look down." _I can't. I can't move my head. The pain is too much._

"I'll look at it later." Hesitating a little, Sakura asked warily, "Does it look bad though?"

Sensing a bit of uneasiness, Sakura asked again with a little bit of force when no answer was formed, "Does it look bad?"

"It doesn't look bad!" Kero's answer was too abrupt. Sakura waited for him to continue. "It's just.. a bit damaged is all."

"You have a bruise on you forehead. A black eye, a busted lip, numerous scratches on your arms and legs, a swollen ankle, and one of your rips were close to being broken." Rely on Yue to put it to her bluntly.

"If you still want to go to the hospital, I can take you there, but they would probably want some answers." Sakura could barely hear him. "I took care of the major injuries, so you just need to rest for a while until you get your strength back."

_How ugly must I look?_

"Sakura?"

_I can't fight, I can't kill, I can't do anything right._ Sakura could start to feel the futile burning near the corner of her eyes. _I can't move my head. I can't open my eyes because it hurts. I can't feel my toes or my legs as well. This is not me. I didn't want this. I did not ask for this. I'm a cardcaptor, not some kind of slayer. There were too many burden placed on my shoulders before, I don't want to add another weight onto it again._

Sakura felt a tiny paw touching her shoulder. "Sakura? Does your eyes hurt?" _Shit, did they saw my tears?_

"What? No... Why?"

"Because you've been staring at the ceiling since the beginning."

_What? But I haven't opened them yet. _

"Sakura?"

Panic instantly paralyzed her feeble body.

"Sakura?"

_I can't see._

_

* * *

_

Who expected this? Not me.. well.. kind of.. bWAhahaa. I know there were not a lot of actions in this chapter, but more info right? Ha ha.. this chapter was more of a tint glimpse of reality for Sakura, and yeah.. But, like always, excuse my grammar mistakes, I know there are a lot of them, and as for the progression of this story, I'm kind of getting tired of it. It seems like this story is going down in the drain… down… down… waay down….. So, don't expect a quick update anytime soon. I'm neither really excited nor am I content with this story as of now, and I'm not sure if this chapter actually flowed as well, so hmm… But I would just like to thank those who reviewed, you made my day on that, so yeah, thank you _Truly Hypo, Wings of Jade, Onigiri Momoko, and Sinequa_! .:throws out flowers and chocolates:.

Toodles!


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